On Tuesday, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) violated the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause.
Mayes determined that the ACA’s high-dollar “CEO Forums” — in which ACA would court CEOs with accommodations, experiences, and refreshments — were unconstitutional, namely noting the massive expenditures without returns last year under Hobbs. In a letter to ACA general counsel, Mayes explained that the gifts corporate executives were impermissible because they didn’t create concomitant public value.
“The current structure of the CEO Forums confers significant value on invited private executives and their guests without obtaining any identifiable value for the state,” said Mayes.
ACA is a state agency dedicated to growing and diversifying the state economy by attracting, expanding, and retaining businesses. ACA is managed as a public-private partnership.
Mayes’ findings confirmed a report from the auditor general last September which determined that the ACA may have misspent about $2.4 million to court private CEOs between 2018 and 2023. A majority of that — over $2 million — occurred last year alone under Hobbs’ first year as governor.
From 2018 to 2022, ACA spent about $356,000 in total on forums for corporate executives: an average of $89,000 per year, about 4.5 percent of what ACA spent on last year’s forum.
Last year marked the most expensive CEO Forum under investigation. The forum was planned around the Super Bowl and Waste Management Phoenix Open; ACA spent over $2 million on corporate executives, and Gov. Katie Hobbs was one of the recurring featured experiences.
In Mayes’ decision on Tuesday, she pointed out last year’s forum specifically.
“While the ACA may hold forums that confer a nominal value on attendees, its past forums, including last year’s $2 million Super Bowl forum and its planned 2024 Forums, do not come close to meeting that requirement,” said Mayes.
As part of last year’s forum, ACA gifted corporate executives and their guests rooms; in-state transportation; event tickets to the Waste Management Phoenix Open VIP Skybox, an NFL Owners Party, a Super Bowl VIP Tailgate Party, the Super Bowl Experience, private viewing suite for the Super Bowl, and concerts associated with the Phoenix Open and Super Bowl; theater tickets; regular season football game tickets and parking passes; lunch invitations with NFL leadership; and Super Bowl Host Committee VIP Golf Tournament tickets.
ACA admitted in a December response to the attorney general that they couldn’t attribute direct causation between CEO Forum attendance and a decision to locate a project in Arizona. Mayes declared that the inability to show cognizable economic value received for their expenditures constituted a violation of the Gift Clause.
“ACA’s responses to our office’s inquiries demonstrate that it expends considerable funds on simply achieving attendance at the CEO Forums even though there is no public benefit from an executive’s private ‘changing perception and increasing sentiment’ about Arizona,” wrote Mayes. “ACA counts non-binding commitments to locate a project in Arizona as ‘project wins.’”
Up until the Tuesday determination by Mayes, ACA was planning on spending another million on corporate executives this year.
ACA planned to spend over $1 million on two forums this year for the NCAA Final Four Basketball tournament and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. If the costs were split evenly, each forum would cost around $400,000 more than the individual 2018-2022 forums held under former Gov. Doug Ducey.
Mayes pledged to prevent the ACA from issuing future gifts to private entities.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Over 80 percent of the city of Phoenix’s overdose kits were distributed to libraries, with the total estimated cost of all kits to be about $300,000 for this fiscal year.
According to an update provided to the city council last week, the city has distributed over 2,500 kits to libraries, 100 to neighborhood services, over 100 to housing services, and over 300 at community events and trainings. In order to determine kit distribution, the city referenced an overdose heat map detailing where the high rates of fatal and non-fatal overdoses have occurred. The city noted that it also prioritized distribution at locations that were “low-barrier”: those locations where a kit could be issued without having to present ID, speak with facility staff, or provide personal information.
The thousands of kits are spread across a relatively small scale: just 23 physical locations, though city officials plan to expand the kit distribution network to 40 locations later this year.
The kits contain two doses (four milligrams) of Narcan nasal spray, one pair of nitrile gloves, one breathing shield for CPR rescue breaths, and an instructional pamphlet written in English and Spanish. Narcan is the brand name for the overdose reversal drug naloxone.
The city estimates that the cost for the kits for the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year would be $300,000. Kit distributions began last July.
As AZ Free News reported in August, the first deployment of kits were distributed at a faster pace than anticipated. It took less than a week for all the libraries to use up one month’s worth of the kits: about 1,600 of them.
The kit funding comes from the estimated $1.14 billion settlement obtained through over 3,000 lawsuits against companies behind the opioid crisis including Janssen, Mallinckrodt, Teva, Allergan, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Endo International plc, and Purdue Pharma.
Disbursements of these payouts were projected to last over the course of 18 years. In August 2021, the state entered into an agreement to split and spend the settlement funds in a certain way: 56 percent to local governments for opioid amelioration programs (over $638 million), and 44 percent to a state fund for opioid amelioration programs (nearly $502 million).
Maricopa County received about 58 percent of the local governments fund (over $370 million); of that total, the county retained 51 percent and distributed 48 percent to cities and towns. Phoenix has the greatest percentage allocated of total payment: over 21 percent, which would equal over $78.7 million.
A breakdown of all expenditures across the state, updated last June, is available here.
As of mid-December, the county has received over $25.7 million in settlement funds; over $13.2 million of the funds were retained, and over $12.4 million was distributed to municipalities.
For the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, the county awarded over $1.9 million to various organizations for opioid amelioration: Banner Health Foundation, Banner Poison and Drug Information Center, Chicanos por la Causa, Community Bridges, Community Medical Services, Live and Learn Arizona, Neighborhood Ministries, notMYkid, Rise Up! Glendale, Shot in the Dark, Skye’s the Limit! Foundation, and Terros Health.
The county allows for annual renewals of contracts over a five-year award period.
The county also allocated $750,000 for naloxone purchase and $170,000 for public health substance abuse staff support to measure the impact of settlement funds and programs.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes pledged to have his office take a more assertive posture against misinformation for the 2024 election.
Fontes made the promise during an interview with 12 News on Sunday. The secretary of state said that his office would even take on the speech of other elected officials, if need be.
“You’re going to see a much more assertive attitude against folks who are lying about elections,” said Fontes. “What they’re doing is creating mistrust between regular citizens where there shouldn’t be any. None of the allegations about fraud, none of the Big Lie has been proven true.”
Fontes didn’t deny that his office may take legal action against perceived misinformation. As an example of the type of misinformation his office would target, Fontes said that Arizona voters use paper ballots — not voting machines — to cast their vote.
“We’re not going to play the role of victim. What we’re going to do is come right out and speak directly to the voters,” said Fontes. “When somebody says, ‘Well, you’ve got a problem with voting machines in Arizona.’ Well, guess what, we don’t have voting machines in Arizona. We vote on paper ballots; every ballot in Arizona has always been cast on paper ballots. You saying ‘voting machines’ is a lie. That’s the kind of assertiveness we’re going to have in our communications strategy.”
Technically, “voting machines” are those pieces of equipment that record votes electronically without paper. Arizona doesn’t have voting machines, but it does have equipment to tabulate votes, which are cast by paper ballot.
Since taking office, Fontes has pledged to combat mis- and disinformation. Fontes declared that election disinformation amounted to “terrorism” and the individuals behind the rhetoric were “fascists” in an interview with MSNBC shortly after being sworn into office. Fontes urged the public to “attack” the election disinformation.
“These new American fascists, these MAGA fascists — you call them denialists, they are fascists — we need to call them who they are,” said Fontes. “We’ve got to stop pretending that their feelings matter. These are people who are threatening the lives of our neighbors, our family members, and they’re threatening the health of our democracy.”
Vigor and strength. That’s the only way we protect our election workers and fight back against disinformation. Thank you @AliVelshi for speaking with me. https://t.co/XbZmJuQNgp
Fontes’ predecessor, now Gov. Katie Hobbs, also took an assertive posture against misinformation regarding elections. Hobbs coordinated with the Center for Internet Security (CIS), a government-funded organization, to censor online speech concerning the 2020 election.
Hobbs’ former chief of staff, Allie Bones, told reporters around the time of Hobbs’ inauguration that it was the job of governments to remove disinformation from the public square.
Hobbs was one among many government officials that coordinated with social media companies to suppress and censor speech on major public issues. Last fall, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a case concerning this coordination, Murthy v. Missouri. The court also granted a request from the Biden administration to block a lower court’s order preventing government officials from communicating with social media companies regarding content moderation policies.
Hobbs’ actions inspired the creation of a new ad hoc committee in the state legislature to review government officials’ relationships with social media companies. That House Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech convened three times in September, October, and December.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) has gone viral for its videos depicting officers pulling over and ticketing left lane campers.
Their viral work has earned the sheriff’s office a certain level of appreciation from both Arizona and national viewers online and, in some cases, even from those who were pulled over for left lane camping.
In the latest viral video featuring Officer Frank Sloup, part of a series titled “Fridays With Frank,” one driver believed they were speeding, though they were, in fact, impeding the flow of traffic by driving too slow in the left lane.
“The left lane, per Arizona state law, is meant for passing,” said Sloup. “When cars are passing you on the right, you’re forcing them to make a dangerous move.”
That driver didn’t sound too unhappy to have been pulled over. He asked Sloup whether he was the viral officer on TikTok, and even asked for a picture. Sloup happily obliged.
“Are you the one that’s on TikTok? Can I have a picture?” asked the driver.
In the first vehicle pulled over, Sloup discovers that the driver was not only guilty of camping in the left lane, but of having a suspended license — despite having a passenger with a valid license capable of driving.
“That’s why you don’t know you can’t be in the left lane: it’s because you’re a terrible driver, and your license is suspended,” said Sloup.
Sheriff Mark Lamb won an Emmy Award for his office for his video compilation pulling over left lane campers. Despite the video’s popularity, Sloup criticized Lamb for only giving warnings on his traffic stops.
“He’s just nice and he talks to people and he’s all happy,” said Sloup.
Sloup also observed that the sound of traffic citation paper being written on and torn was hardly heard in Lamb’s vehicle.
“In Sheriff Lamb’s truck, you hear a lot about God, family, and freedom. You know what you don’t hear in Sheriff Lamb’s truck, is this sound,” said Sloup, as he tore a ticket.
Sloup’s latest viral video wasn’t his first. The PCSO has issued a number of videos, most recently last month with recognition from “Morning in America.” Sloup explained that the idea behind the video compilations emerged as a PSA following the passage of the hands-free driving law in 2021.
Maricopa County is in search of a new sheriff after Sheriff Paul Penzone officially resigned this week.
Penzone’s resignation comes just months before the election of a successor. Chief Deputy Sheriff Russ Skinner will serve as interim sheriff until the county board of supervisors can appoint a replacement, who will be a Democrat. In a press release, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers thanked Penzone for his tenure.
“I would like to thank Sheriff Penzone for going above and beyond to keep Maricopa County residents safe,” said Sellers. “In particular, I appreciate his collaboration on security matters related to elections.”
The Board of Supervisors is now accepting applications to appoint the next @mcsoaz Sheriff, who will serve in the role until voters elect a Sheriff this November. Applications will be accepted until January 19th. Learn more & see how to apply: https://t.co/LrW5Ubt7kRpic.twitter.com/jGRsHodivG
The sheriff isn’t headed for retirement. Blue Cross Blue Shield has hired Penzone to oversee the insurer giant’s charity initiatives and community programs, which will include allocating funds to seed programs.
Penzone first took on the role of county sheriff in 2016, when he ousted longtime Sheriff Joe Arpaio — now Fountain Hills mayoral candidate — with the help of millions from progressive dark money financier George Soros. Penzone’s race was the largest cash flow in a local race put out by Soros that year.
That well-financed race was Penzone’s second attempt to unseat Arpaio after an initial, unsuccessful bid in 2012.
Penzone announced his intent to resign last October.
On his last day, Friday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) posted a video featuring Penzone reciting former President Theodore Roosevelt’s monologue, “The Man in the Arena,” reflecting on his time as sheriff. Penzone didn’t attribute the monologue to Roosevelt.
“It is the men and women of MCSO who are in the arena,” said Penzone. “I hope that you express gratitude for them whenever you cross their paths, because their sacrifice and their work often goes unappreciated but it is the difference between living in a safe community or living in a space of fear.”
Penzone’s legacy included the establishment of identity-based community advisory boards, a K9 drug detection unit for jails, a motorcycle traffic enforcement fleet, deputy service aides for lower priority calls (like thefts, burglaries, and crashes), a tactical fugitive apprehension unit, two mental health services for MCSO staff, and the shutting down of Arpaio’s controversial Tent City jail program.
In place of that last program, Penzone established a substance abuse counseling program.
Reflecting on Sheriff Penzone’s tenure, we're sharing the impactful contributions he made since taking office in 2017.
8⃣: Under Sheriff Penzone, three community advisory boards were established to serve as liaisons between the Sheriff's Office & the diverse communities…
